Let’s get it poppin’

☝️ Here are the teams who have qualified for the knockout stage since our last newsletter: Argentina, France, Norway, and Colombia. Kudos.

😱 Shockingly not on that list? Tourney favorite England, who would’ve clinched with a win yesterday but couldn’t dismantle Ghana’s fierce defensive low block despite holding possession for 79% of the 0–0 draw.

⭐ Now let’s get to the goals with many superstars shining bright on the WC stage. Yesterday, 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo silenced his doubters, netting two goals in Portugal’s 5–0 thrashing of Uzbekistan and becoming the first player to score in six WCs.

🐐 And then there’s Lionel Messi. The GOAT scored his 17th and 18th career WC goals on Monday, making him the top all-time WC goal scorer, man or woman. Don’t mind us — just manifesting Marta’s resurgence at the Women’s WC one year from now.

👀 France’s Kylian Mbappé is right on Messi’s tail, with his career WC goal tally at 16 after scoring twice in Monday’s 3–0 win over Iraq.

✨ With that, let’s check on the Golden Boot race: Messi leads (5), followed by Mbappé plus Norway’s Erling Haaland (4), and CanMNT’s Jonathan David and Germany’s Deniz Undav (3). Still plenty of fútbol to go.

👏 Three groups are in action every day from now until Saturday, with all four teams in each group playing simultaneously to prevent game tampering. As a reminder, the top two teams in each group advance to the Round of 32, in addition to the top eight third-place finishers.

📺 Keep an eye on the Group C matches today at 6 p.m. ET. Brazil and Morocco currently top the group with four points apiece, but Scotland (three points) trails narrowly and could shake things up if they can beat Brazil.

The GIST: The Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF) announced its 2026 class on Monday, a deserving group, but one that includes just one woman: the inimitable Cindy Curley. Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but the road to Toronto’s hallowed halls is paved with misogyny.

💐 Let’s start by giving Curley her flowers: In her 17th year of eligibility, Curley is finally where she belongs. Her 23 points in five games at the 1990 World Championships is still an IIHF record, but Curley’s legacy is bigger than a flashing red goal light: While playing, she represented what girls could be; in retirement, she’s helped provide those opportunities through her work with USA Hockey.

😡 Onto the HHOF’s history of misogyny: A maximum of four male players and two female players are selected every year, an arbitrary number chosen by the selection committee. Men have enjoyed league stability for decades longer, but that doesn’t excuse the present-day discrepancy: The first women weren’t even inducted until 2010, 65 years after the HHOF’s first-ever class.

• You might be wondering: Who is on the 18-person selection committee? Well, the group includes just two women, Cassie Campbell‐Pascall and Cammi Granato, the only two women to serve on the committee in its 79-year history.

• The committee has notably leveraged both women’s slots just three times over those 16 years — the inaugural induction in 2010 and in both 2024 and 2025.

• And there are plenty of worthy candidates, like superstar goalies Shannon Szabados and Noora Räty, who smashed ceilings in their respective men’s minor leagues, or American icons Meghan Duggan and Julie Chu, or the trailblazing Fran Rider.

☀️ Looking to get in on the Summer of Soccer action? Even if you can’t make it to a game IRL, you don’t have to sit on the sidelines. Play along with the best community on the internet with our free-to-enter World Soccer Bracket Challenge.

• Whether you’re a diehard fan or just here for the good vibes (not to mention the cash prizes), this challenge is for everyone — no expertise required.

• Entries close Sunday, June 28th at 2 p.m. ET — get those picks in.